Dear Lifehacker, I have a couple pets, and it seems like they're always chewing on my cables, the dog's fur gets in my computer case, and the cat's always scratching my brand new Aeron. Is there anything I can do to protect my gadgets?

Sincerely, Muttley Crüe

Dear BM, We're no strangers to the perils of pet ownership. Like tiny, hairy children with teeth, pets are capable of destroying your expensive gadgets in a matter of seconds. While you can buy all sorts of expensive junk at the pet store, most of the pet-proofing gear can be made on your own. Here are a few tips to keep your stuff safe and safe some money.

Protect Your Cables and Chargers

Any owner of a new puppy or kitten knows that the first thing they usually go for is cables. For whatever reason, young animals tend to love to chew on cables. That not only means they might end up electrocuting themselves, but they're destroying your gadgets in the process.

Unfortunately, the solution to stopping your animals from chewing on cords is a bit of trial and error. All animals are different, so it's best to just try a few cheap solutions. One trick is to wrap the cords in cheap split loom tubing so they can't get to it. Since it's not as thin and small, some animals may not find it as fun to eat through.

If you've ever owned a young animal, whether that's a puppy or a particularly suicidal…
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Otherwise, you can try covering your cables in something gross tasting for a couple weeks until your pets quit trying to kill themselves. Readers suggestions include hot sauce, deodorant, or vinegar. Basically, cover your cables in a nasty tasting liquid for a couple weeks until the animal gets used to not chewing on it. Over the years I've had mixed luck with each of the above methods depending on the animal, and while there's no magic bullet solution, one is bound to work.

Wipe them down with hot sauce. Seriously, Pick habenero level hot sauce. OR find a product called…
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Deodorant. My friend's cat chewed through something like four Apple power cords before a…
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My kitten LOVES eating plastic. I might try the hotsauce or vinger trick in the other comments here.
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Get Hair Out of Your Gadgets

The grossest part about pet ownership is the amount of hair that accumulates over time. This is multiplied tenfold in the summer, and it seems like a nonstop war.

Unless you want to shave your pet, there's not much you can do to prevent hair from getting into your gadgets, so you want to come up with a cleaning schedule to make sure computers, game consoles, and anything else with an open case and fan doesn't get ruined. Personally, I sweep, mop, dust, and attempt to collect pet hair around my gadgets about once a week.

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Brushing your pet's hair often is helpful too, and keeping a lint roller around will at least keep things from getting too out of hand. Otherwise, it's all about vacuuming or sweeping up that hair as often as you can.

Likewise, you want to clean out the inside of your computer as well. Canned air is the old go-to, but dryer sheets work as well. If you have hairy animals, it's good to do this every six months to a year. Otherwise the inside of your gadgets will be incredibly gross and might prevent your hardware from working. You can find a few more tips for cleaning up that hair here as well.

As nearly anyone who cares for an animal can tell you, pet hair is a nuisance. It loves clinging to …
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Keep Pets Off Counters, Desks, and Anywhere Else

Finally, you're going to want to keep your pets off any desks, counters, or anywhere else you're keeping your tech. This is obviously pretty easy with dogs most of the time, but cats are a different story.

The most common method to keep animals off your stuff is with double sided tape. Simply put, cats (and dogs for that matter) don't like getting their paws stuck on things, so if you cover your desk corners, couches, or anywhere else with double sided tape they won't want to scratch it or sit on it. It's annoying for you a while, but it's about training them not to be interested so you don't need to do it for long. It also happens to be the only trick that's ever actually worked for the pets I've had.